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fat pixel digital backs

Stefan Steib

Active member
The Dicomed Bigshot was the King of the hill with 13 Microns.
I really wonder what a chip with that specs made with todays knowhow could do DR wise.

Regards
Stefan
 

torger

Active member
The Dicomed Bigshot was the King of the hill with 13 Microns.
I really wonder what a chip with that specs made with todays knowhow could do DR wise.

Regards
Stefan
The large pixels can capture a lot of photons. The 9 um pixels of the 22 meg backs captures about 100,000 photons per pixel, which is more than modern smaller pixel sensors do, but of course it is far from fully utilised when the A/D converter range is 0-16383 (~6 photons per step) and you have various sorts of read noise on top of that. CCD performance of photographic sensors has improved a bit from the Bigshot days, but not that much from the P25 days.
 

archivue

Active member
the aptus 22 is really nice... but an aptus 75 is as nice with more pixel... and in second hand prices are similar !
 

torger

Active member
It was indeed cool! As far as I understand, the application of this megasized pixels is to be able to record very low amounts of photons, i e ultra-high ISO, for applications like surveillance and wildlife. My guess is that it is quite mediocre at a normal ISO though, that is that the technology does not have that much value for normal photography applications. Still cool though.
 

OliverM

Member
Some initial thoughts after my first tests with the P65+ after 3 months with the Aptus 75s & 3 years with a Sinar 54lv :
- the sinar remains the king of skin colors and will remain attached to my contax for this purpose
- the P65 technical qualities are amazing. Certainly more accurate than the Sinar, much more DR, of course more pixels. The perfect companion for the alpa and landscapes. I also find that the potential of the back is better reached with a tech camera.
- the aptus had some technical advantages over the sinar, but I prefered colors of sinar, a more film-like look. Sold it rapidly.
- I find that 22MPix is sufficient for portraits, where 60 are mostly interesting on landscapes
- sinar landscapes look also fantastic, but light must be really good to excel. Blacks/dark tones are amazing, highlights are not better than a D3x.
- even if the leaf is my less-prefered back, it remains great.
- I tend to think that sinar great colors come from the full linear processing more than from the 9m pixels

My totally subjective opinion, based on no experience except looking to pictures : I would mary a classic Hasselblad either with a P20+ or a CFV39 ...
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
Some initial thoughts after my first tests with the P65+ after 3 months with the Aptus 75s & 3 years with a Sinar 54lv :
- the sinar remains the king of skin colors and will remain attached to my contax for this purpose
Were you using the Phase One Portrait profile with the 65+ or the default generic-flash profile?

Do you know/use Color Editor to create a specific value to "suck" skincolor towards?

I used the 65+ for a LOT of portraits and weddings and found the skintones off that Dalsa sensor to be incredibly good out of the box (using the portrait profile) and the ability to fine tune it (and set a new default) to be really exceptional.

Naturally I'm biased...
 

OliverM

Member
Were you using the Phase One Portrait profile with the 65+ or the default generic-flash profile?

Do you know/use Color Editor to create a specific value to "suck" skincolor towards?

I used the 65+ for a LOT of portraits and weddings and found the skintones off that Dalsa sensor to be incredibly good out of the box (using the portrait profile) and the ability to fine tune it (and set a new default) to be really exceptional.

Naturally I'm biased...

No, I have to learn everything with the P65+. what I do now is I start from the linear profile as I really don't like the "film" ones. I will look for this portrait profile, thanks for the tip ! Very encouraging !

EDIT : found ! This gives even more possibilities, I made 10 different tests with the same image = 10 different results with positive & negative points = I need to know what I want and learn the right workflow to select the right levers


Still : Sinar portraits are beautiful, and will remain on the contax. I need to learn how to reach the best with the P65. Now that I am done buying & selling equipment, I have plenty of time for this !

Thanks !
 
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bensonga

Well-known member
Nothing says "fat pixels!" better than a fat pixel image. I'm sure others will have much better examples than this one....so let's see them.

503CWD, CFV16-II, CFi 100mm f3.5 lens
 

torger

Active member
fat pixels means moiré...
Yep, you can actually see it in the sand in the nice example picture above. I get quite a lot of moiré (or rather color aliasing, pattern moiré is less common) with my semi-fat 33 megapixel back too, actually if I don't get color aliasing I've missed focus or something :).

Every sensor *should* have an AA-filter, but pixelpeeping is more fun without it :).
 

archivue

Active member
with my semi-fat 33 megapixel back
33 and 39 megapixel backs seems to be the good balance between resolution/ moiré/lens cast issue...

when i was shooting with my aptus 22, sometimes moiré was a problem... with architecture !

the Aptus II 7 is less prone to moiré... but still...
 

Mammy645

New member
Nothing fancy, just a quick snap on the balcony to try focus hand held with my new rz67 IID.
So far I'm extremely pleased with this camera and the look of these lovely lenses mated with my P25.

View attachment 70122
 

cgthanos

New member
You will love the H25! Just added a P25 to my RZ and the lenses really shine on MFD.

A couple of quickies from last weekend are below. The moire is there but overall the files are really nice.

 

mmbma

Active member
It will be great if this thread evolves into one with only images taken with 33MP or below digital back.
 
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